John dean



UNITED STATES PATENT OEErc JOHN DEAN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO GEORGE H. KINGSLEY, OF SAME PLACE.

MATERIAL FOR CLEANlNG AND POLISHING METALS,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389,552, dated September 18, 1888. Application filed September 5, 1887. Serial No. 248,864. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN DEAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Materials for Cleaning and Polishing Metals; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the to art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention has reference to a new combination of materials to be employed in mm bles or tumblers for cleaning and polishing r 5 metal. Heretofore various methods and com binations of materials have been employed in this art for cleaning and polishing castings and other metals, and with varying results, according to the methods adopted and the character and form of the metals treated. In some instances only the metals themselves were placed in the tumbling box or cylinder without the addition of other material, and mutual attrition was relied on to cleanse and smooth the metal surface, or to these were added sand, slag, cinders, graphite, sawdust, scraps of leather, charcoal, or the like, usually one or the other alone, according to the article under treatment or the character of the work to be 0 done. It was also common to employ with these materials small sharp-pointed objects known as tumbling stars, which were made of hard metal and served with their pointed ends to penetrate crevices and openings which were inaccessible to ordinary surface action and to cleanse parts that could not otherwise be reached. In lieu of these, nails and like small metallic articles of irregular shape and sharp corners and points were used in con- 0 nection with one or more of the polishing ma terials above named. WVith the exception of some slight variations, this may be said to have been the state of the art, and represents the best-known methods therein prior to my invention; but the tumbling-star or its ordinary hard-metal substitute, when used with any of the known scouring substances, is liable to at least two material objections, which it is the purpose of my invention to remedy: first, ow-

ing to the fact that it is both hard andsharp,

it is impossible to obtain a finished surface that is not more or less punctured, scratched,

or otherwise defaced, especially if the softer metals are being handled; secondly, it is impossible by this method to carry the cleansing and polishing process effectually into the interstices, recesses, or openings that usually appear in metals brought to the tumbling-box for treatment. The sharp pronged star or spider was designed to remedy this defect in the polishing process and to enter the recesses and openings for the purpose of clearing and finishing the same; but experience has demonstrated that it is not effectual for this purpose. It will remove the adhering particles 6 and give a certain measure of finish in the unexposed parts; but still those parts will be rough and unsatisfactory when its work is done compared with the exposed surfaces which have been subjected to the direct action 7( of the polishing materials. By my means these defects are positively obviated,and every part of a piece of metal is equally cleaned and polished whether the surface is plain and exposed or within or about an opening, or of irregular outline, the form, shape, or construction of the metal being immaterial provided the parts thereof are accessible to my polishing material.

To this end my invention consists in the use So of small pieces of some soft yielding metal, like lead, with a polishing material, like emi, cry, crocus, corundum, charcoal,or other similar substance, which, while it cleanses, will also abrade and polish the metal and give it the desired finish.

In carrying out the invention the leadcn pieces may be given any desired shape from angular to round; but I usually make them round to start with, as they will soon wear to go practically this form by use, and they may be of any size from, say, the size of a marble or larger down to the finest bird-shot.

The form and peculiarities of construction of the metal to be cleansed and polished will 5 generally determine the size of the lead to be used. Thus, if the metal is made with openwork, webbing, or the like, the surfaces of which are to be polished, I employ leaden balls according to the size of such openings,the 10o balls being designed to pass through the openings and enter into all parts thereof. The size of the openings will therefore determine the size of the balls, and if the metal is plain or has very large openings the largest size of lead would be used. Of course the larger and heavier the leaden pieces the more rapid the work, weight having very much to do with the speed and efficiency of their action. I therefore use the heavier leads, or theirequivalent in soft metal, when the character of the work will permit.

The grade of the abrading material to be used will depend largely on the quality of work to be done. Vhen quick results are desired and finish is not so material,the heavier grades may be profitably employed. If a smooth polished surface is desired, the liner grades of material should be used. Indeed this method of dressing metals is capable of such a measure of refinement that it can be made to give a finish and luster not surpassed by the best known hand processes.

When emery, charcoal,or the like is used, a small quantity of oil added thereto will lend materially to its action and contribute to the finish of the work. The superiority of lead or kindred soft metal in lieu of the hard sharp tumbling-star or the like I desire especially to emphasize, for the reason that the use of such material for this purpose forms the nucleus of my invention. It will be seen that by the change of metal I retain sufficient weight and solidity to do efficient and speedy work, while the quality of the work is greatly enhanced by reason of the change. Thus, while withlead I avoid the injury to the polished surface which the harder metals will inflict, I am enabled by its use and by reason of its soft and yielding quality to change and embed its surface so completely with the polishing material that I practically'eonvert it into a new and different article. Thus, for example, ifI employ emery as the polishing material, a ball of lead by the violent action to which it is subjected in the tumbler will become so filled with the material that in a comparatively short time it will be perceptibly larger than originally and its surface will be coated with the polisher. This practically converts the leaden mass into an emery ball, with the advantage,however,of having greater weight and consequently more efficiency than a ball ofsolid emery would have, while also the combined lead and emery does not smooth and gloss as in the case of solid emery. An emery ball would Wear down and polish and lose its scouring properties; but the leaden ball will continue to take up emery particles, and thus maintain an effective grinding-surface. The leaden ball also retains its yielding quality, which better adapts it to this work. There, of conrse,is no wearing out of the lead when these accretions upon its surface occur.

To further carry out my invention a rumbler or tumbler of any approved form may be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In the art of abrading and polishing, the combination of an abradent, as powdered emery, with small soft-metal bodies, as leaden balls, the abradent and metal bodies being separate and distinct elements, whereby when employed in a rumbler said elements co-operate in polishing exposed surfaces, substantially as set forth.

JNO. DEAN.

\Vitnesses:

H. T. FISHER, HENRY E. Sowmz. 

